Artist Statement
My work focuses on anthropomorphizing the animals that I portray using the fundamental emotions that we all feel. I work to create a better understanding of who we are and what we do by relating humans to every other living being on the planet. I pursue the “everyday” scenarios in larger than life formats. Making these scenarios seem more interesting than they actually are while celebrating the mundane.
Forcing the viewer to find relation to the animals to better tell the story without words.
I use pallet wood for many reasons. I love the idea of giving new life to an old material. The wood contains all these layers of detritus of where it came from. Each scuff and crack another badge of honor. I also relate them very much to people, every piece is generally uniform (they come typically in 3.5″ x 40″ slats or 5.5″ x 40″ slats) but the variety within the uniformity is tremendous, no piece is ever alike. Finally I feel better about working on a material that is recycled, I like that my work is not simply adding more “stuff” to the world but rather looking at an old material in a different light.
